Equity First Coaches Institute – Part I
Dates: September 8, 10, 15, 17, 2020
Time: 5:30-7:30pm Eastern
This four-day virtual institute helps participants build capacity to access, engage, and sustain complex and challenging conversations about equity, identity and implicit bias that lead to action. Participants engage in a rigorous set of experiences that support them to articulate their own identity and supports them to develop awareness of identities claimed by others. Through such activities as autobiographical storytelling and racial identity continuum dialogue, participants will learn how to coach others to begin to develop a level of critical consciousness so that the influence of race and culture in our schools and organizations becomes personal and immediate to them. With an explicit focus on equity, participants gain skills for using SRI tools and processes to support themselves and others to:
- Identify and name their assumptions and beliefs about race, class and culture;
- Examine and challenge their own assumptions and beliefs about race, class and culture; and
- Reflect on how their and others’ assumptions and beliefs about race, class and culture play out in their work contexts.
Leading Powerful Adult Learning Online
Dates: September 29, October 1, 6, 8, 2020
TIme: 5:30-7:30pm Eastern
This virtual learning series is designed for leaders, coaches, or those who are often called upon to facilitate meetings or deliver professional development and need support in designing, implementing and supporting adult learning particularly in virtual learning spaces. Using SRI research-based tools, protocols, and strategies, participants learn how to build community virtually, and nurture ongoing conversations designed to improve leading, teaching and learning that are centered on equity. The virtual workshop introduces adult learning theory; builds explicit connections between adult learning and student success; supports participants to give feedback critical to their success; and enables participants to design action plans that facilitate the improvement of teaching and learning through the lens of educational equity and excellence. By the conclusion of the 4-part workshop, participants will:
- Gain a deeper understanding of adult learning theory;
- Understand the connection between adult learning and school transformation;
- Understand core considerations when planning adult learning for virtual spaces with SRI reflective tools and processes;
- Explore themselves as leaders for equity and excellence; and
- Begin to develop and/or deepen the facilitative skills needed to lead educators’ learning
Virtual Connections
School Reform Initiative is still facilitating “Virtual Connections” for our community on Wednesdays. We love connections as a protocol because all we have to do is prepare ourselves to lean in to each other, there’s nothing to prepare and no other expectations. The rules are simple – speak if you want to speak, don’t speak if you don’t want to speak, and speak only once until everyone has had an opportunity to speak. We’re hoping that if everyone connects for 20 minutes sharing whatever is on their mind that we’ll be able to provide a virtual community because we are not alone in our efforts to balance supporting our students, creating virtual learning for potentially the first time, homeschooling our own children, feeling isolated or anxious, and so many other realities. Remember, there is power in community. We are stronger together and while we may not be able to be in social gatherings for a while. Join SRI for “Virtual Connections” Wednesdays at 10am Central.
Teaching Tolerance Educator Grants
The mission of Teaching Tolerance, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, is to help teachers and schools educate children and youth to be active participants in a diverse democracy. Teaching Tolerance Educator Grants support educators who embrace and embed anti-bias principles throughout their schools. These grants, ranging from $500 to $10,000, support projects that promote affirming school climates and educate youth to thrive in a diverse democracy. Projects will be funded on three levels: school, classroom, and district. Educators nationwide in public or private K-12 spaces, as well as in alternative schools, therapeutic schools, and juvenile justice facilities are eligible to apply. Applications may be submitted at any time. In addition to the Educator Grants, Teaching Tolerance is currently accepting applications through its Future Voters project for grants ranging from $500 to $2,000 to support school community members and students in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi to host voter registration drives at their schools and in their communities. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis through September 15, 2020. Visit the Teaching Tolerance website to access the funding criteria, guidelines, and FAQs, and the online application.
#PowerofCommunity
Our goal for 2020 is to help educators remember why they became educators, and to do whatever we can to not only help them to ‘feel’ supported, but to actually ‘be’ supported, and work together to create the schools our students deserve. I hope you will join me and continue to support SRI!
SRI is fiercely committed to educational equity and excellence, and we cannot do this work without your support!
Thank you for your commitment to students, families and communities!
Do you have news to share? Interesting things happening in your area? Please let us know so we can share with our community! Email Chris Jones, chris@schoolreforminitiative.org.
Thank you,
Deirdre Williams and Chris Jones
On behalf of School Reform Initiative
